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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5O-02693

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the procedures used by the Public Defence Solicitors' Office and the Scottish Legal Aid Board to investigate workplace bullying and harassment.

Question reference: S5W-19856

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 29 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its spokesperson’s comment in the Scottish Daily Mail on 10 November 2018, whether it will confirm that it does not support the decriminalisation of abortion and, if so, what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government confirmed in its Programme for Government for 2016-2017 that it had no current plans to change the law on abortion. The Scottish Government is not opposed in principle to the decriminalisation of abortion. However our priority is to focus efforts on improving abortion services. The Scottish Government is continuing to work with NHS Boards to look at how further improvements can be made to abortion services in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-19807

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 29 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the support with (a) pregnancy and maternity and (b) childcare for women researching for PhDs.

Maternity benefits (Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance) remain a reserved matter for the UK Government, however, students may receive either of these providing they meet the standard eligibility criteria. The Scottish Government provide free healthcare support for pregnancy through the NHS. All 3 and 4 year old children, and eligible 2 year olds, are entitled to 600 hours per year of funded early learning and childcare currently – the Scottish Government is committed to almost doubling this entitlement, to 1140 hours per year for these children, from 2020. The Scottish Government has conducted no assessments on the support available specifically for PhD students.

Question reference: S5W-19805

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many women (a) applied for and (b) received funding through grant schemes of the Chief Scientist Office in each of the last 10 years, also broken down by scheme.

Question reference: S5W-19812

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many foundation apprenticeships in STEM subjects have been offered in the current quarter, broken down by gender of the person they were offered to.

Question reference: S5W-20187

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 28 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the £17 million additional finance for Alcohol and Drug Partnerships in 2018-19, which it announced in its Programme for Government, and any underspend carried forward to 2019-20, is spent on establishing new services and posts and not used to manage any deficits of health and social care partnerships.

Scottish Government wrote to Integrated Authorities (IAs), Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs), NHS Boards and Local Authorities on 23 August 2018 to outline the resources allocated through this fund for decision making by, IAs and ADPs who should agree local arrangements for improvements.

The letter issued set out the investment areas for this funding and confirmed that IAs hold responsibility for the effective investment of the budget to meet the needs of the affected population in the local area. We expect IAs to enable (and be accountable for) ADPs to develop an effective investment plan to deliver measureable improvements at a local level.

Question reference: S5W-19813

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure equality of access to foundation apprenticeships.

Equality considerations have been embedded in the Skills Development Scotland commissioning process for Foundation Apprenticeships, with delivery partners required to detail the steps they will take to attract and support individuals from under-represented groups.

The Foundation Apprenticeships: Early Progress and Learning Insight Progress Report details participation statistics for Cohort 1 (2016-18) and Cohort 2 (2017-19) of the programme. The report shows the overall gender balance for Foundation Apprenticeship starts as: 50.3% male vs 49.7% female for Cohort 1; and, 46.3% male vs 53.7% female for Cohort 2.

From August this year, Skills Development Scotland will capture Foundation Apprenticeship data as part of the Apprenticeship Equality Action Plan. The five-year plan sets out a range of measures it will take to support equality of opportunity for all in apprenticeships.

In addition, Skills Development Scotland will continue to work with delivery partners for Foundation Apprenticeships to align activity in addressing gender imbalance in subject and career choice. Skills Development Scotland are also working closely with colleges and universities to join up any action to address gender imbalance as identified in their Gender Action Plans.

Question reference: S5W-19806

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 27 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many women have (a) applied for and (b) undertaken a (i) Clinical Academic Fellowship, (ii) NES/CSO Postdoctoral Clinical Lectureship, (iii) NRS/University Senior Clinical Academic Fellowship and (iv) NRS Career Researcher Fellowship in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S5W-19809

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to address the low uptake of construction apprenticeships by women aged over 25.

Through our Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) – Youth Employment Strategy, we make clear our ambitions to bring the education and skills system and employers closer together to bring about tangible and sustainable, economic and societal benefits. At the heart of this is a focus on equality and sets out priorities such as improving gender balance in STEM sectors. We believe that meaningful and effective collaboration across key DYW partners is central to overcoming societal and cultural issues which influenced our labour market in the past.

The Skills Development Scotland (SDS) Apprenticeship Equality Action Plan (EAP) sets out a range of measures it will take to support equality of opportunity for all in apprenticeships. The Plan highlights specific actions to tackle gender imbalances and includes targets to reduce these imbalances.

Recent examples of SDS activity include: a Continuing Professional Development offer for training providers to help them become aware of the diversity challenges faced by certain industries; production of an accredited module for employers to support development of a better understanding of the gendered perspective of working in STEM; and, production of a toolkit for SME’s to recruit and support more women into STEM.

In addition, SDS contracting and commissioning processes ask that training providers demonstrate how they will address uptake specifically in relation to gender dominated sectors and this is then monitored throughout the life of a contract.

As apprentices are employees, effective employer engagement is critical to encourage positive action to recruit and sustain female uptake in non-traditional sectors. To this end, Skills Development Scotland have been working with representative bodies for Electricians and Plumbers to support proactive approaches to recruitment and retention of women. SDS is also working alongside Construction Scotland as part of the process to form the new Skills Group for the sector. One of the areas of focus for the group is aimed at addressing the workforce diversity challenges, in particular on how to attract women into the sector.

Question reference: S5O-02633

Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport last met the chief executive and chair of NHS Lanarkshire, and what was discussed.